I understand recently that our regulatory body (transport Canada) has decided to propose that all people in float planes (pilots and passengers) will have to wear life jackets. It's not law yet, but apparently is just waiting to be passed. I don't advocate wearing them or not, but only the choice. I personally am against it - a friend of mine flipped his plane last year the the passenger in the back got his caught on something on the way out and almost drowned. Forcing the regulation on people is not right in my opinion.

Education not regulation! Wet exit training best training I ever took! Requiring life vest to be worn during seaplane operations is like requiring parachute to be worn during any flight. Training and awareness not just equipment will keep your ass alive longer. Oh yeah .....always carry your lucky rabbits foot too!

"Still dreaming and hoping to die young at heart with a bar room story that will close the place"

I agree with Steve's Brother mostly, but there is always that story of the person in the car thrown clear that survived a crash and wouldn't have if they had their seat belt on, but for everyone of those stories there are thousands where the seat belt did what it was intended to do. I remember the fight over car seatbelts from my younger years and now no big thing. Egress training and training in the property use of life vests to me makes sense. When I had the Chief, I always had on an inflatable seaplane vest on and had it fit such that it would not catch on things easily. Here in the U.S. we have regulations on when you need to carry vests for over water operations. Look back in the search history as there was a very well propagated thread on this subject.

Bob

SUPPORTING MEMBER

BobWest Nyack Aviation, L.L.C. New York, New York - East Hampton, New York & Warwick, New York 631.374.9652rkittine@aol.com WA2YDV

In my early days of float flying I stowed the life vests under the seat & only pulled them out once a year to make sure they were ok.Last few years of flying nobody gets in unless they are wearing one of my mustang life vests.Just my opinion.The smiling guy has more 185 time than I will ever have & was a 744 captain when this picture was taken,wouldn't let him fly my plane until he put the life vest on.Second picture is of his wife Imee & her dad wearing the life vests,he was 84 at the time the picture was taken & just passed away a couple of days ago.Daryl

I have Aerocets and as such, large float compartments. Being concerned with getting it caught on something on the way out, or inadvertent inflation, my theory is that if me or my passengers are well enough to exit the aircraft, we can access the float hatch under the water, open it and grab the life jackets. It's only 12-18" under the water and relatively easy to get at.

Most of the people I have personally talked to were unable to access & put on their life vests once in the water after a flip so I made a contentious decision to have my passengers wear them before entering the aircraft.

From a personal perspective, I don the inflatable PFD prior to any flight on floats. After experiencing having to egress from a submerged aircraft, I believe they are life savers. I was wearing mine when I found myself in this predicament and in those panic moments when the aircraft is filling up with icy cold water, there isn't time to do anything but get out of the aircraft. The PFD will also keep you alive during a cold swim to shore as well.Egress training is another key component to survival. After what we as pilots spend on flight training, egress training is cheap insurance for our survival. I don't believe mandatory laws will save lives, I think proper training and preparation are the key to survival. I still believe it's a personal choice and I chose to wear them and make sure my passengers wear them when in my aircraft.Only my .02 cents worth.

I always were my inflatable vest in the plane. I do give the passenger briefing to NOT inflate them till you are outside and clear of the aircraft. I have some basic emergency supplies in the pockets of the vest so I at least have a shot at getting a fire going when / if I get to shore. Getting a fire going and getting warmed up and dried out go a long long ways in staying alive. I also keep my SPOT in a vest pocket. In the grand scheme of things, a good inflatable vest is cheap and also handy. Bug dope and a space blanket are also in my vest pocket.

As with my winter flying, I don't keep my warm gear in a bag that I can hopefully get to in the event of a crash.. If I crash and am knocked out at -30 it does not take long to freeze so the gear in a bag does not do me much good. I wear what I plan on crashing in. If I get to warm, I can shut the heat down, open a vent etc. Good gear in layers goes a long way in keeping a feller comfy.

I see it as wearing a helmet when riding the motorcycle... yes, I love the wind in my hair, I love the wind in my face... I have crashed various motorized vehicles and I know it feels much better grinding along the road or ditch with a helmet on versus looking cool grinding down the ditch wearing just my sunglasses.

I used to also tell passengers how to inflate my vest OUTSIDE the plane is I head something and became daised or unconscious. Although not a fan of laws that protect one against themself I agree with things like seat belts, life vests over the water and motorcycle helmets. I started riding not wearing one and have seen enough head injuries in my life to not ride without one. Even though less chance of an issue on a slower peddled bike, I wear one there also after seeing a kid get hit and dragged by a small delivery truck. This year on the first run of my first ski trip, I was hit from behind, without warning by an out of control skiier and went down hard on my left side and my head hit the ground hard. Thankfully I started wearing a helmet skiing after so many head injury ski deaths.

As a law, this will become more important if there are any insurance claims. Second question from the insurance investigator will be, "was their floattion devise on".

Bob

SUPPORTING MEMBER

BobWest Nyack Aviation, L.L.C. New York, New York - East Hampton, New York & Warwick, New York 631.374.9652rkittine@aol.com WA2YDV